THREE WAYS.

THERE are three ways of being religious, only one of which is the right, and which one way alone can procure present satisfaction and terminate in future felicity.

These three ways are, first, The adoption of a religion imposed by the will of other men; second, The attempt to be religious according to one's own will; and, third, The surrender to the expressed will of God alone.

The last named is the only true, pure, and undefiled religion on earth. All else bearing the name is spurious and fatal. The last alone is godliness, and no other than it has promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Yet history too clearly proves that men generally have chosen the spurious rather than the genuine. Sadly few there are, even in this land of bibles, whose religion does not consist to a most alarming degree in matters of mere human origin. We speak not now of the positively irreligious, but of those who profess the true religion. If any one deems this charge severe, let him examine himself, whether he be in the faith-whether his belief be really faith in the word of God, or in the mere interpretations and opinions of menwhether his religious practice be that prescribed by the christian Scriptures, or by human standards. Let him reflect on each article of his faith, and note each item of his practice, and then say how many of them he HIMSELF has derived DIRECTLY from the sacred Scriptures. For most manifest it is, that whatever he cannot thus trace up to the one true source of divine direction is of men and not of God. A right salutary exercise, kind reader, is this we now suggest to you. Adopt it we pray you against all issues.

It is because so few do repose their faith in the power of God rather than in the wisdom of men, that so many find so little satisfaction in their religion. If religion be worth anything, it ought to satisfy. The truth of God does satisfy; it ever has satisfied the deepest, highest, innermost, farthest need of those who have made it their resource. The language of the religiously satisfied soul to him in whom all fulness dwells is Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee.' But the generality of religious persons in these days are not satisfied. Like the murmuring of many waters is the religious discon

No. 4, Vol. II.-April 1858.

tent of the age. We thank God for this and take courage to fan yet more the troubled waters with the breath of hea venly truth, knowing that the sea of mind, like that of Galilee, will cease from troubling only as the voice of Jesus is listened to, saying, 'Peace be still.'

Your attention, then, dear reader, to the three ways already indicated.

I. A religion imposed on any one by the authority of other men is a false religion. This testimony is true, ever though there be much truth in the system so imposed. We do not say that every item in every humanly imposed reli gion is false; for the most false system that ever was in vented holds a considerable amount of truth in its composi tion. What we affirm is that any religion of human imposi tion, however much truth it may have in it, is a false religion. In other words, it is a wrong, a mistaken, and a fatal way of being religious, to adopt or submit to systems, churches. or ordinances of human arrangement and appointment. In the doing of this no higher service is rendered than that of men. But the meaning and object of true religion is to bind man anew to God. Never yet, however, was any alien of our race brought back to God by any human religion; on the contrary, the essential tendency of one and all religions that human wisdom has produced has been to bind their votaries in subjection to man. This is the secret of all religious and ecclesiastical despotisms, tyrannies, priestcrafts, persecutions martyrdoms, heresies, slaveries, superstitions, and errors. He alone is the freeman whom the truth makes free; and he alone is made free who knows the truth; and he alone knows the truth who knows the Son of God, for he is the way, and the truth, and the life,' and therefore, reader, 'If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' No marvel then that be, the divine Liberator, so emphatically pronounced against the human impositions of his day, saying, as he did to their reverend authors and supporters, 'Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.' No marvel that his apostle put the question, 'Why are ye subject to ordinances after the commandments and doctrines of men.'

II. A self-imposed religion is also false. Though more grateful to the pride of the observer, it has no higher origin than other mere human appointments. Yet there are those who smile contemptuously at the simplicity of all who adopt the religion of their ancestors or their country, as if forsooth the going about to establish one's own righteousness would commend any one the more to God, because the attempt is made after the individual's own will rather than after the will of his fellows. The self-righteous after this fashion may with truth reply that other men have no right to require him to worship God as they please, but he forgets that he has as little right to worship as he himself may please. The truth is, the pleasure of man is not the rule in religion; THE WILL OF GOD IS ALONE THE LAW. It siguifies nothing with God whether the worshipper follow a self-imposed ritual, or one ordained by his fellow-men; in either case the subserviency is human; the binding is to man; the submission is not to God. Unwise and unprofitable, therefore, as obedience to mere traditional, ancestral, national, and popular religions is and ever must be, he is no wiser nor more acceptable to the Divine Being, whose self-righteousness is in every item selfimposed. For whether this, or partially, or wholly the production of other men, the issue is the same as respects God; the individual going about to establish his own righteousness submits not himself to the righteousness of God. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.' And, therefore,

ye

III. The only true religion is submission to the expressed will of God. No man should take any step in religion till he is assured that it is of God. Two masters he cannot serve. If he pleases men he cannot be the servant of Christ. < Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths where is the good way, and walk therein, and shall find rest for your souls.' So spoke God to ancient Israel. Every clause of the paragraph is significant-Stand in the ways-see-ask for the old paths-where is the good way-walk therein-and ye shall find rest for your souls, The standing, the seeing, and the asking go first, each in order. The soul-rest is last, and comes from walking in the good way. The one good way is the will of God expressed through the Lord Jesus, his oracle to man. To him came there a voice from the excellent glory, saying, 'This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I delight, hear ye him.' Moses

truly said to the fathers of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise. Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you; and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hear-obey-that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. He came to earth to do the Father's will. On the cross he exclaimed, 'It is finished!' To his apostles, he gave his commission, saying, 'All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me. Go ye therefore and disciple the nations, immersing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.' Thus authorised, the apostles went forth proclaiming the exalted Messiah, the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. To those who submitted to his government they delivered the ordinances as they had received them from the Lord, and commanded the disciples to keep them as received, and to withdraw from every one who walked contrary thereto. Thus was the faith-the Christian religion once for all delivered to the saints.

Reader, have you taken this way? Are you walking in it? As you value present happiness and eternal life, see that your religion is summed up in obedience to him who is the way, the truth, and the life-even him through whom alone man comes to the Father.

T. H. M.

MEMOIR OF DR JAMES WATT.

JAMES WATT, M.D., for many years one of the pastors of the Scotch Baptist Church in Glasgow, died on the morning of March 3, 1821, and his remains were interred in Anderston Burying Ground, in the western division of the city.

Mr Watt completed his education in Glasgow, where he arrived from Gilnakirk, near Belfast, 1785, and was connected with the body then named the Antiburgher Seceders. He distinguished himself as a student of the University, and was licensed to preach in 1793. The Presbyteries of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, and Markethill, Ireland, were the fields of his labour. He attracted much attention wherever he went, and spoke with acceptance and boldness. This, however, was of short duration. In 1794, he published a pamphlet, entitled, 'A Candid Inquiry into some Points of Religion,' which partially elicited his change of mind on

baptism and other subjects; and on May 4, 1796, he declined further communion with the Antiburgher Synod. On with. drawing from his early and esteemed friends, he re-publishedthe same pamphlet, and appended to it 'Plain Proofs that Public Creeds and Forms do involve Doctrines erroneous and intolerant.'

The change of principles in Mr Watt necessitated him to look after another mode of livelihood than the one to which his prospects had led him, and he did not long hesitate. He studied medicine. His accustomed energy of character was Soon brought into successful operation. An ably-written thesis on ANIMAL LIFE' induced the University of Glasgow to confer on him the professional title M.D., and he was known afterwards under the name of Dr Watt.

It is a rare sight to see one bred up in all the assumed notions of clerical dignity, lay them aside; and rarer still to witness that man unite himself with a congregation, and take his place at the foot of the form, and there learn the difference between the comandments of the Lord and the commandments of men. This singleness of purpose and simplicity of character were witnessed in Dr Watt. He submitted to be ruled by his seniors. He did not deem himself a master because he had attended a university. He was baptized in. Edinburgh, and added to the church then meeting in Richmond Court Chapel, under the pastoral care of Archibald M'Lean, William Braidwood, and Henry David Inglis. They stood alone but united. Dr Watt added strength to strength. He appreciated the privilege of teaching and admonishing one another in the first-day meetings of the church, and soon created a sympathy in his favour, so much so, that in September 1797 he was appointed an evangelist, and duly sent forth to preach in the shires of Aberdeen and Banff. There he preached with success. Many believed, were baptized, and collected into congregations; and the north of Scotland from henceforth became an object of fostering care to the friends in the south.

After a lapse of many centuries, a Baptist Church was formed in Glasgow, 1769. Archibald M'Lean, a native of the city, had his attention drawn to the subject of believers' baptism in 1763. Two years after, he was baptized in Edinburgh by Robert Carmichael, pastor of the church there, and he warmly aided the infant cause begun in his native city. At the origin of the church in Glasgow, Mr Neil